Concerns

An unusual (for me) Saturday post.  But, I am doing so in a few moments in between other computer work as I sit here in my home office trying to figure things out and catch back up on a lot of things.

A variety of concerns are items I am trying to figure out and deal with:

1. Still working on getting phone contacts set up.  It is very time consuming.

2. The other items on my phone that are difficult involve some of my "fun" aspects as well.  The new phone had required me to download the browser I had used before when accessing blogs for everyone... and unfortunately, the bookmarks are gone, so I am trying to establish them again.  Some are easier as I can go to comments and see the person's links to their own blog, but in some instances, the comment does not lead back to an indication of the person's blog.  It means I am not able to contact all people yet.  I am trying to fix this.

3.  A new, politically driven, worry has now also popped up, that is too ambiguous to even know how to deal with at the moment.  With the new political shut-down development causing a 10% reduction in airline flights..... and with my having had long-term plans to travel to and present research at a conference in California..... with plans to leave late next week..... I am in an awful conundrum:

    a.  I have no idea YET if my flights will be affected/cancelled/altered on the trip TO the conference.

    b.  I have even WORSE worry about if my RETURN flights will be affected/cancelled/altered on my return HOME from the conference.  

The issues related to the above concerns are i) my travel times are quite TIGHT for layover flights in both directions, and delays may make me miss connecting flights, ii) the number of days I have for the conference WITHOUT impacting my U work are also tight.... and I am fearful that if there are problems on the RETURN flights, I may have issues relating to classes and other work at the U, iii) as the way these things work.... I have to pay up front for conference registration, flights, hotel accommodations out-of-pocket.... and then submit receipts for reimbursement from my grant funds after the fact.  But, if ultimately flights are cancelled (or worse, very delayed), and hotel accommodations are not used or incompletely used (by delay), it may be financially impactful as well.  The conference block of accommodations had a cancellation cut-off of about 1 month ago.  I have no idea if/how I may be stuck for costs and fees if I have delayed or cancelled flights for the hotel accommodations.  I have no idea how delayed flights/cancelled flights may play out either.... may I get refunds or only ticket vouchers?  And, depending on how all the above works out.... this determines what I may or may not be able to submit for actual reimbursement from my grants.  I cannot seek reimbursement from my grants for days I am not using a hotel even if I am unable to stay there if there are delays and I may still be on the hook for paying for them.  The same is also true about the flight costs.... if I were to be given vouchers but the conference is not attended, I am not able to be reimbursed for the flights... and instead have to eat the costs.  It is all very worrisome and disconcerting.  

So, there are many items I am trying to figure out besides my NORMAL U work and at the same time try to have some semblance of a non-work life.  It is keeping me rather exhausted, and I am still recovering from my laryngitis to a degree.  

Thursday and Friday of this week were very busy with trying to catch-up on things that had been displaced/delayed due to the peak of my illness and the destruction of my phone, but on Thursday, I forced myself to go to the Retiree's Cigar Group.  Unfortunately, it was not particularly successful.  I was rather too keyed-up about "things I should be doing" and about the new on that day announcements about the impending 10% flight reductions to actually be able to successfully work myself into the state of relaxation at the Retiree's Cigar Group that I had such a desire to obtain.  I still felt edgy and worried when I eventually left, and my mind did not feel any real sense of relaxation.  

During a few days during the prior week when I was exceptionally sick with the laryngitis and when my phone was initially destroyed, I DID NOT run.  For better or worse I could not muster up the ability to force myself to do so.  But, during this week, I have forced myself back into the regular running even as I was still recovering and still dealing with the phone.  I am not sure if running was helpful or not.  But, I am at least relieved I did it.  But, it was not able to help  me reduce the feelings of stress.  

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